| Pacaraima Mountains | |
|---|---|
| Pakaraima Mountains | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 2,810 m (9,220 ft)  |
| Listing | Mount Roraima |
| Dimensions | |
| Length | 800 km (500 mi) |
| Geography | |
| Location | Brazil, Guyana, Venezuela |
The Pacaraima or Pakaraima Mountains (Portuguese : Serra de Pacaraima, Spanish : Sierra de Pacaraima) are a mountain range primarily in southwestern Guyana, and into northern Brazil and eastern Venezuela.
The range extends from west to east for over 800 kilometres (500 mi). Its highest peak is Mount Roraima at 2,810 metres (9,220 ft) above sea level, a tepui surrounded by cliffs 300 metres (980 ft) high.
It is geologically part of the Guayana Shield and biogeographically part of the Guayana Highlands.The mountains form the divide between the Orinoco Valley to the north and the Amazon Basin to the south. They also serve as a natural boundary in the east–west direction, where they extend 800 kilometres (500 mi) to form a border marker between Brazil and southeastern Venezuela and between Brazil and west central Guyana. [1]
The Pacaraimas are a sandstone plateau underlain by a horizonal precambrian marine strata that arose in post-cretaceous time. [2] Erosion of the sandstone (the Roraima Supergroup [3] ) results in dramatic escarpments, the individual remnants of which are called tepuis. Mount Roraima, Mount Ayanganna and Mount Wokomung are some of the more well-known examples. [4]
Numerous rivers originate in these mountains and on their way down they plunge spectacularly to form some picturesque waterfalls. A beautiful example of this is the Kaieteur Falls in Guyana and Angel Falls. The headwaters of the Mazaruni River and Ireng River are sourced in the Pacaraimas. [5]
The Pacaraimas are mostly forested, with occasional savannas especially at the base of Roraima and on the Brazilian side of the range. The savannas are made up of grasses and the occasional Curatella americana trees below 6500 ft. These areas are prone to fire, either man-made for agriculture or cattle ranching or during times of drought. [5]
Difficulty in breaching the steep slopes has made data collection a challenge, however the relative isolation of these flat-topped mountains produces an array of endemic flora with a "great potential for high species diversity". [4] The Rapateaceae family is one of the most commonly represented of flowering plants amid the tepui plateaus. [6]
Logging and mining interests pose a threat to the biodiversity of the Pacaraimas. [7]
The 116,748 hectares (288,490 acres) Monte Roraima National Park protects part of the range in Roraima, Brazil. [8]
The mountains are a traditional home to Patamona [9] and Macushi [10] people.
The Macushi village of Tipuru is considered the oldest village in the South Pakaraima Mountains. It has the oldest church and school in the region.
Landmarks are of special significance to indigenous people, and are intertwined with oral histories and culture. According to Macushi cosmology, mountains and other landforms were created by mythical creator brothers when they cut down Wayaka, the "tree of life". These brothers transformed people, animals, and other things into rock formations, thus giving them special mythological origins. [10]
The Geography of Guyana comprises the physical characteristics of the country in Northern South America and part of Caribbean South America, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Suriname and Venezuela, with a land area of approximately 214,969 square km. The country is situated between 1 and 9 north latitude and between 56 and 62 west longitude. With a 459 km (285 mi)-long Atlantic coastline on the northeast, Guyana is bounded by Venezuela on the west, Brazil on the west and south, and Suriname on the east.
The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most well-known waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Cuquenan Falls.
A tepui, or tepuy, is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran Sabana.
Mount Roraima is the highest of the Pacaraima chain of tepuis or plateaux in South America. It is located at the junction of Brazil, Guyana and Venezuela. A characteristic large flat-topped mountain surrounded by cliffs 400–1,000 meters high. The highest point of Mount Roraima is located on the southern edge of the cliff at an altitude of 2,810 meters in Venezuela, and another protrusion at an altitude of 2,772 meters at the junction of the three countries in the north of the plateau is the highest point in Guyana. The name of Mount Roraima came from the native Pemon people. Roroi in the Pemon language means "blue-green", and ma means "great".
The Pemon or Pemón (Pemong) are indigenous people living in areas of Venezuela, Brazil, and Guyana. The Pemon people are divided into many dialects and traditions, which are; Arekuna, Kamarakoto, and Taurepang.
La Gran Sabana is a region in southeastern Venezuela, part of the Guianan savanna ecoregion.
The Mazaruni River is a tributary of the Essequibo River in northern Guyana. Its source is in the remote western forests of the Pakaraima Mountains and its confluence with the Cuyuni River is near Bartica. As it descends from the Guiana Highlands the river runs south-east, past Issano, then northward to Bartica. The river is a source of alluvial gold.
The Macushi are an indigenous people living in the borderlands of southern Guyana, northern Brazil in the state of Roraima, and in an eastern part of Venezuela.
Mount Ayanganna is a sandstone tepui in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana, and located 85 kilometres (53 mi) east of Mount Roraima.
The Guayana Region is an administrative region of eastern Venezuela.
Heliamphora nutans is a species of marsh pitcher plant native to the border area between Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana, where it grows on several tepuis, including Roraima, Kukenán, Yuruaní, Maringma, and Wei Assipu. Heliamphora nutans was the first Heliamphora to be described and is the best known species.
The natural range of the carnivorous plant genus Heliamphora is restricted to the southern Venezuelan states of Amazonas and Bolívar, and to adjacent portions of northern Brazil and western Guyana, an area corresponding to the western part of the Guayana Shield. These plants are largely confined to the summits and foothills of the sandstone table-top mountains of the region, known as tepuis.
The Eastern Tepuis, also known as the Roraima–Ilú range, is a mountain chain stretching for some 60 kilometres (37 mi) along the border between Guyana, Venezuela and, to a small extent, Brazil. It runs in a northwesterly direction from the tripoint of these countries, closely following the Guyana–Venezuela border, with a single major peak (Uei-tepui) to the south, on the Brazil–Venezuela border. Moving northwest from Uei-tepui (2,150 m), the main summits of this chain are Roraima-tepui (2,810 m), Kukenán-tepui (2,650 m), Yuruaní-tepui (2,400 m), Wadakapiapué-tepui (2,000 m), Karaurín-tepui (2,500 ), Ilú-tepui (2,700 m), and Tramen-tepui. The minor peak of Wei-Assipu-tepui lies entirely outside Venezuela, on the border between Brazil and Guyana. Additionally, there are a number of minor plateaus which form a chain between Uei-tepui and Roraima-tepui. Ilú- and Tramen-tepuis are often treated together since they are joined by a common base.
Wei-Assipu-tepui, also known as Little Roraima or Roraimita, is a minor tepui of the Eastern Tepuis chain. It lies just off the northeastern flank of Roraima-tepui, directly on the border between Brazil and the disputed Guayana Esequiba territory, claimed by Venezuela but controlled by Guyana, and very close to the tripoint of all three countries. The mountain is known for its extensive cave systems, with one extending for over a kilometre.
Maringma-tepui, also written Mount Maringma and historically known as Mount Marima, is a small tepui of the Pacaraima Mountains in Cuyuni-Mazaruni, Guyana. It is known as Malaima-tepui in the local Akawaio language. Most published sources place it just inside Guyanese territory, very close to the border with Brazil, and around 17 kilometres (11 mi) east of Roraima-tepui. However, the mountain remains the subject of considerable toponymic confusion and its name has been applied to at least one other nearby peak.
Mount Wokomung is a sandstone tepui in the Pakaraima Mountains of western Guyana, the summit is 1700 metres. Together with Mount Ayanganna, 37 km to the north,
The Brazil–Venezuela border is the limit that separates the territories of Brazil and Venezuela. It was delimited by the Treaty of Limits and River Navigation of May 5, 1859 and ratified by the Protocol of 1929. The geographical boundary begins at the triple point between Brazil-Colombia-Venezuela at Cucuy Rock and continues up the Maturacá channel to the Huá waterfall; it then follows a straight line to the top of a mountain called Cerro Cupi. It then follows the crest of the drainage divide between the Orinoco and Amazon river basins up to the Brazil-Guyana-Venezuela border tripoint on top of Mount Roraima, thus covering a total of 2,199 kilometres through the Imeri, Tapirapecó, Curupira and Urucuzeiro mountain ranges, and the Parima, Auari, Urutanim and Pacaraima ranges, in the Guiana Shield.
Mount Roraima National Park is a national park in the state of Roraima, northern Brazil.
The Guianan savanna (NT0707) is an ecoregion in the south of Venezuela, Guyana and Suriname and the north of Brazil. It is in the Amazon biome. The savanna covers an area of rolling upland plains on the Guiana Shield between the Amazon and Orinoco basins. It includes forested areas, but these are shrinking steadily due to the effect of frequent fires, either accidental or deliberate. The ecoregion includes the Gran Sabana region of Venezuela.
The Guianan moist forests (NT0125) is an ecoregion in the east of Venezuela, north of Brazil and the Guyanas. It is in the Amazon biome. The climate is hot and humid, with two rainy seasons each year. As of 1996 the tropical rainforest habitat was relatively intact, although there were mounting threats from illegal logging and gold mining.
5°00′N61°00′W / 5.000°N 61.000°W
